CHARLES CITY, Iowa – Last February, a north Iowa man facing eight counts of sexual abuse of a minor pleaded guilty to one of them.

While the other seven charges against him have been dismissed, on Monday morning, 71-year-old Ronald Calvert found out his sentence for the crime.

In many cases, the defendant has the right to make a statement before he or she is sentenced and Calvert says, “I just want to say that I’m sorry, I wish I never did it and I’ll never do it again.”

Those were 71-year-old Calvert’s last words on Monday as Judge Dedra Schroeder made her final decision about his future.

“I’m sentencing you to 25 years in the Iowa State prison system,” Schroeder says.

Schroeder says that she took Calvert’s age, background, education and former employment into consideration, however his sentence did not end there.

“You are also sentenced to a special sentence,” Schroeder says, “which commits you to the custody of the director of the department of corrections for the rest of your life.”

25 years is a mandatory sentence in a case like this as Calvert was accused of performing sexual acts on a girl under the age of 12 between 2006 through 2013.

Because of the nature of his offense, he will be registered as a tier three sex offender which means he will be required to register as a sex offender for the same amount of time as his special sentence, so in his case, Calvert will be registering for the rest of his life.

His sentence could also be shortened on account of good behavior and Calvert will be eligible for parole once he has served 70 percent of his sentence.

As of right now, there is no restitution set however, the district attorney says there are pending costs that could result in a restitution down the road.